Aachener Printen

Aachener Printen are a type of Lebkuchen originating from the city of Aachen in Germany. Similar to gingerbread, they were originally sweetened with honey, but are now generally sweetened with a syrup made from sugar beets.

Aachener Printen

A herbal Aachener Printe broken in half
Type	Lebkuchen
Place of origin	Germany
Region or state	Aachen
Main ingredients	sugar beets, spices (cinnamon, aniseed, clove, cardamom, coriander, allspice, ginger)
Media: Aachener Printen

18th century Printen cast

The term is a protected geographical indication, meaning that all manufacturers must be located in or near Aachen.^[1]

History

Aachener Printen were at least partially created due to the numerous pilgrims who wanted to visit the Aachen Cathedral. The Printen may have been inspired by Couque de Dinant, a pastry from Dinant that was usually baked in the form of figurative representations or artistic braids.^[2] Gebildbrot came to Aachen in the 15th century with immigrant blacksmiths and quickly found popularity among the city's bakers. They made a soft dough sweetened with honey, which they pressed into elaborately carved baking molds depicting saints and other figures. The Aachener Printen became what they are now in 1806, when the French emperor Napoleon blocked the British trade routes and with them Aachen's supply of cane sugar and honey, the most important ingredients for the pastry. The bakers replaced the sweeteners with sugar and syrup from local beets. An original baker named Henry Lambertz then came up with the idea of rolling out the dough over raised molds. The robust cookies can be efficiently produced in large quantities and are ideal as travel provisions, which is why their reputation has spread far beyond Aachen. The Lambertz-Gruppe, founded in 1688, is Aachen's oldest and largest manufacturer of Printen.^[3][4]

Development

Artificial Printenmann as a landmark of the Aachen Christmas Market

But it was not until around 1820 that some Aachen bakers succeeded in creating from these ingredients a stable pastry, desired for its bittersweet and fine taste, while completely foregoing any fats such as butter or even nut and almond flour. At the same time, the list of ingredients was altered by the addition of various cake spices, which led to the development of the first Kräuterprinte. Since there were now two types of gingerbread – the original as Schnittlebkuchen and Gebildbrot, and the new darker Kräuterprinte sweetened with beet syrup – a new name had to be found to differentiate them. Thus, the name “Aachener Printe” became established for the new creation, by which it could be regionally distinguished from the products of other, and in some cases still experimenting, Lebküchner.

Through the use of beet syrup, the dough of this new variety became correspondingly coarser, tougher, and more difficult to shape, which is why, at first, as with its predecessors the Couques de Dinant, there were only hard Printen. This sluggish and non-spreading dough had the significant advantage that flat and slender Schnittprinten could now be easily shaped on trays for mass production in factories, and due to their firmness, this type was far better suited for shipping and thereby opening up new sales markets. This ultimately meant – apart from a few product exceptions – the end of the widespread production of Printen figures shaped in molds.

Herb-Almond Printen figure

Printen dough during maturation

In the following decades, there was a rapid further development of these Aachen Printen. With sugar prices falling from the 1830s onwards, the products again became more varied and could, for example, be coated with a sugar glaze, leading to the introduction of the so-called “Prinzessprinten.” In the 1850s, the dough could be given a looser texture by adding rock candy crumbs, and from the 1860s onwards, the confectioner Henry Lambertz finally succeeded in coating the Printen with liquid chocolate through more advanced chocolate processing. In the meantime, a higher honey content could also once again be used, which made the dough smoother and consequently led to the production of Weichprinten. Thus, there were now three basic types of this pastry: Kräuter-, Prinzess-, and Schokoladenprinten, which were offered as hard or soft Printen, mostly in broken form and more rarely as picture Printen. In addition, the introduction of steam engines during this period also enabled factory-style mass production of this pastry.

Printen production line

The degree of fame and popularity of Aachen Printen led, among other things, to the already well-known Aachen baker and confectioner Henry Lambertz being appointed around 1870 as Purveyor to the Court for the Belgian, Dutch, and Prussian royal houses. But other traditional companies such as the Aachen Printen and Honey Cake Factory van Rey (founded 1833), the bakery Nobis Printen (1858), the confectionery Leo van den Daele (1890), and the bakeries Drouven (1896) and Klein (1912) also expanded their product ranges to include Aachen Printen, with their products differing only through variations in spice and ingredient mixtures. Much later, in the 1950s, further additions to the existing product range came with the introduction of Schokoladen-Saftprinten, Nuss-Schokoladenprinten, and Nuss-Saftprinten.

To this day, the original Aachen Printen, due to certification by the EU as a product with protected geographical indication, hold an undisputed status far beyond the region.

Production

Display of printen in an Aachen bakery

Originally sweetened with honey, nowadays Aachener Printen are sweetened with the syrup from sugar beets as honey became temporarily unavailable when Napoleon issued a trade embargo, banning all trade with the main supplier of honey, the United States. The tradition of sweetening with sugar beets was kept even after Napoleon was defeated and the French occupation lifted.^{[citation needed]}

Printen are made from a variety of ingredients including cinnamon, aniseed, clove, cardamom, coriander, allspice and also ginger. The exact mixture of these ingredients, however, is a close kept secret of the individual Printen bakeries.^{[citation needed]}

Additionally to the original Printen, there are also Printen with nuts (usually almonds), covered in chocolate or glaze and marzipan.^{[citation needed]}

Ingredients and Nutritional Values

The dough base consists of flour, water, and sweeteners without the addition of any kind of fats. As sweeteners for the dough, mainly brown sugar, rock candy crumbs, and beet syrup are used, as well as honey, and as leavening agent mainly potash, originally hartshorn. The spice mixture includes, among others, cinnamon, anise, cloves, cardamom, coriander seeds, allspice, but also candied orange peel, candied lemon peel, and ginger, with the percentage composition of the spice mixture being a secret of each manufacturer.

For the topping, depending on the product, various glazes are chosen, ranging from simple sugar glaze to rich chocolate coating, as well as decorations with almond or nut slivers. Simple herb Printen have a physiological calorific value of about 1465 kJ/100 g ( 350 kcal/100 g) with about 2 g fat, while Printen with sugar or chocolate coating or with nuts, almonds, or similar have higher values.

The acrylamide content in Printen resulting from the baking process remains, in the majority of products available commercially, below the benchmark guide values, whereby the values have tended to improve or at least stabilize at a harmless level through replacement of hartshorn as a leavening agent and through careful preparation.^[5]

Possible Uses in Recipes and Foods (Selection)

The property of the simple form of herb Printen to dissolve in broth during cooking and thereby spread a pleasant sweet-bitter spicy flavor leads to its use in various mostly hearty dishes, especially served in autumn and winter. Thus, Printen are used, for example, in the preparation of:

Rhenish Sauerbraten, where they, along with raisins and beet syrup, enhance the flavor of the sauce^[6]

Jugged venison with prunes and Printen sauce^[7]

Saddle of venison with Printen sauce^[8]

as well as Printen parfaits in numerous variations, for example

• • with spiced oranges or with blackcurrant purée with mousse au chocolat as a cold dessert specialty^[9] or
  • with warm oranges as a hot-cold dessert^[10] or
  • with mulled wine sabayone^[11]

In place of original Printen, an artificially produced Printen flavoring is used as a distinctive characteristic in other foods and luxury goods. For example, it is found:

in Aachen Printen ice cream or in Printen candies from 1900 made by a locally renowned candy specialist

as an additive in Printen tea based on black or green tea

as an additive for Printen liver sausage and Printen pâtés

as an additive in Printen tobacco for pipe smokers

as a base for the 35% Printen liqueur, which can also be made with fresh Printen^[12]

Aachen Printen as an Identifier (Selection)

Printen monument by Hubert Löneke

The attachment of the people of Aachen to their Printen is reflected in the naming of clubs, events, and awards. Among others, there are:

the carnival society “Oecher Prente 1988 e. V.”

the “Printen Promenaders Aachen Square Dance Club e. V.,” founded in 1987

the annual pre-Christmas “Printen shooting” of the Aachen marksmen’s clubs

the small arts prize “Aachener Prenteschang,” worth 5000 euros, donated by the Lambertz company and awarded by the “Aachen Home Theater Stage Friends 1947 e. V.” to personalities who have successfully managed to present the peculiarities of a European region pointedly and with humor to a broad supraregional public.^[13] Previous winners included, among others, Wendelin Haverkamp (1995), Jürgen von der Lippe (1996), Hanns Dieter Hüsch (1997), De Höhner (1999), Konrad Beikircher (2001), and Bernd Stelter (2003)^[14]

the bronze sculpture Printen Girl, created in 1989 by Hubert Löneke, donated by Leo van den Daele, located at Büchel corner Körbergasse

In addition, some legends and novels also refer to Aachen Printen, for example:

• • the Printen legend^[15][16]
  • The Printen Connection, a mystery crime novel by Carsten Berg with local color^[17]

Literature

Karl F. Kittelberger: Gingerbread and Aachen Printen – History of a Most Curious Pastry. Meyer & Meyer, Aachen 1988, ISBN 3-89124-069-4.

Werner Setzen: The Aachen Printen Breviary. 3rd, revised edition. Meyer & Meyer, Aachen 2009, ISBN 978-3-89899-334-0. [http://books.google.de/books?id=fW1EUGNXbjEC&pg=PA59&lpg=PA59&dq=b%C3%A4ckerei+van+rey+aachen&source=bl&ots=vzEQKtDHqT&sig=hn6FhvJnlzxh8Kxd51FMcWmYYvQ&hl=de&sa=X&ei=0AF0UKelFeXF0QXMiIDQBg&sqi=2&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=b%C3%A4ckerei%20van%20rey%20aachen&f=false

(google online, excerpt)]

See also

• List of German desserts
• Food portal